Couples that do not want children. Are they doing the right thing? (enemies, revolution)
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Actually, you are the one who made the debate about inheritance by claiming that educated people would go extinct if some chose to NOT reproduce. You are the one assuming that educational attainment or lack of same is inherited. Intelligence is a key element in the ability to learn. Posters are just connecting the dots that you put out there.
Apparently, the thought of the descendants of today's riffraff ruling the proverbial roost in 400-500 years really gets your shorts in a bunch. Maybe you should take a good, hard look at the ancestors of today's "rulers of the roost" and see what riffraff they were in their day. If your family can trace its American roots back to the 17th or early 18th century, you probably have at least one and maybe more, convict, indentured servant or slave in your family tree. If your family is of Italian, Eastern European or Jewish origin, your ancestors were the same kind of people that you're so worried about now.
Sure, I probably have unsavory folks in my ancestors. But it took many generations to leave that behavior behind. It is not easy to make a 180 degree turnaround in just one generation.
I actually believe intelligence is hereditary, but that is another topic of discussion. I was talking about parents that nurture education and a work ethic. However, if you believe Richard Dawkins theory of MEMES those traits (education and work ethic)are also inherited.
Successful intelligent couples often decide not to procreate because there is pain in the world or because we are overcrowded. In their hearts these couples believe they are doing the right thing for humanity.
Meanwhile, China has discovered that curtailing reproduction has backfired and they will soon have an aging population with not enough young people in the pool. The one child per couple is a disaster, but at least there is one kid in the picture. However, it seems one kid is not enough! Most of the couples I talk about have ZERO children even though they are well educated and from a higher socioeconomic level.
Why do you think European countries freely admit so many Muslim migrants. They know quite well that without young folks the future is bleak.
What will happen in 100 years if all educated economically successful couples do not have children? What if ALL the kids of the next generations come from a low socioeconomic background?
That is what is currently happening now.
Many middle class families are waiting to have kids until they can responsibly afford to raise them. In the mean time low income people are out-breeding them. One reason is that they are willing to take taxpayers handout programs. So essentially what is happening is the taxpayers are paying for the irresponsible to outbreed them.
That of course spells disaster for the future, but many people don't seem to care.
One issue I have and I am sure many parents have. Is it is expensive, time consuming, exhausting to raise a child.
Now lets say I have two or three beautiful/handsome daughters or sons etc, I gave up a good chunk of my life to raise, moved to suburbs to a larger house, doubled my commute, had my wife stay home to be a stay at home Mom and give up her career and after spending all my income on them for a good 30 years, making sure they went to best colleges possible, helped pay for their weddings etc. All three walk into my house and say we never plan on having kids.
Everything you ever worked for is worthless, you have no legacy, everything you built, homes, cars, stocks, bonds, cash there is no future generation to give it to. No grandkids coming.
Are you happy. even worse for thousands and thousands of years in your ancestors folks gave up life had kids and were rewarded with future generations, grandkids in old age and legacy continues.
Except with you, and unlike someone who just partied stayed single and had no kids, you did all the right things and still got screwed.
One issue I have and I am sure many parents have. Is it is expensive, time consuming, exhausting to raise a child.
Now lets say I have two or three beautiful/handsome daughters or sons etc, I gave up a good chunk of my life to raise, moved to suburbs to a larger house, doubled my commute, had my wife stay home to be a stay at home Mom and give up her career and after spending all my income on them for a good 30 years, making sure they went to best colleges possible, helped pay for their weddings etc. All three walk into my house and say we never plan on having kids.
Everything you ever worked for is worthless, you have no legacy, everything you built, homes, cars, stocks, bonds, cash there is no future generation to give it to. No grandkids coming.
Are you happy. even worse for thousands and thousands of years in your ancestors folks gave up life had kids and were rewarded with future generations, grandkids in old age and legacy continues.
Except with you, and unlike someone who just partied stayed single and had no kids, you did all the right things and still got screwed.
You are taking this to a personal level.
It gave me enormous satisfaction to have children and a large family. But, that was my personal choice and all the money I invested I do not regret.
I sent five kids to Catholic School from grade 1-12 as well as college. As you can imagine my retirement funds took a hit, but the joy of a family has no price.
But, all of this is personal. For the guy next door being free of children may be priceless and that is OK too. Maybe he values other things that I don't.
But, the issue is not about what we personally decide to do or not to do. The issue is the impact on future generations.
Someone said that if the fertility rate goes down we will have 1-2 generations of treacherous times with an excess of OLD people and few young persons to pay taxes, but once all the OLD die the proportion of YOUNG and OLD will be OK.
And what will happen to all the empty homes in the towns and cities? Ha. ha!
Honestly, what business is it of yours (or mine?)...I RESPECT couples that do not bow to family/public pressure to have a family if they do not want one.
As parents of adopted children, we were CONSTANTLY asked personal, private questions about our "ability" to have kids, or motives, or reasoning.
It is NO ONES DAMN BUSINESS why we decided to adopt when we did not feel the need to make children that looked like us in order to love them!!!!
One issue I have and I am sure many parents have. Is it is expensive, time consuming, exhausting to raise a child.
Now lets say I have two or three beautiful/handsome daughters or sons etc, I gave up a good chunk of my life to raise, moved to suburbs to a larger house, doubled my commute, had my wife stay home to be a stay at home Mom and give up her career and after spending all my income on them for a good 30 years, making sure they went to best colleges possible, helped pay for their weddings etc. All three walk into my house and say we never plan on having kids.
Everything you ever worked for is worthless, you have no legacy, everything you built, homes, cars, stocks, bonds, cash there is no future generation to give it to. No grandkids coming.
Are you happy. even worse for thousands and thousands of years in your ancestors folks gave up life had kids and were rewarded with future generations, grandkids in old age and legacy continues.
Except with you, and unlike someone who just partied stayed single and had no kids, you did all the right things and still got screwed.
That's all your perspective--that you somehow got screwed. How so? You still sound as if you had things pretty good, not the least of which was a spouse and children. The parties who stayed single did not experience what you did.
Accept the good in what you received and learn to live with the disappointments. They are part of life. I wanted marriage and multiple children but I got one child and a divorce. Never had another chance at another marriage. Yes, that was a disappointment, but being alone is better than a bad marriage.
My only child does not want children. That's a bit of a disappointment, but I am so happy that she feels free to make that choice. No one should have children they don't want.
My daughter turned out to be an intelligent, thoughtful person. That outweighs the disappointments by far.
Honestly, what business is it of yours (or mine?)...I RESPECT couples that do not bow to family/public pressure to have a family if they do not want one.
As parents of adopted children, we were CONSTANTLY asked personal, private questions about our "ability" to have kids, or motives, or reasoning.
It is NO ONES DAMN BUSINESS why we decided to adopt when we did not feel the need to make children that looked like us in order to love them!!!!
My wife and I are not having children. It was not by choice as there were health reasons, but we made zero efforts at fertility treatments and other options that people spend a fortune on. Our reasoning? Overpopulation and acceptance. If nature didn't have it in the cards for us, so be it. There are plenty of already here children needing a home. Adoption is something we decided we would pursue should we want to change our life without children.
When a large segment of the population is older and not productive the economy suffers greatly
The economy is not set in stone. It is not like the laws of physics. If the population declines society will just need to change and adapt. Over the course of human history there have numerous socio-economic systems in place. The current economic structures of Germany, Japan or the USA are merely "flavors of the week" if we look at the whole of human history. Declining fertility will not be a problem if the human race is willing to change.
Another point, democracy functions far better within smaller populations which is why all of our large countries end up turning into representative republics. I would much rather live in a democracy over a representative republic.
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